The Most Unhealthy Cookbooks of 2012

Just because it’s made from scratch doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

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The Deen Effect

When news came out that Paula Deen, the unofficial spokeswoman for all things butter-coated and deep-fried, had diabetes, it wasn’t exactly surprising. The woman has written loads of gluttonous cookbooks, including a particularly notorious one that advises kids to eat cheesecake for breakfast. Diabetes and obesity often go hand in hand, and with her trademark devil-may-care attitude toward healthy eating habits, Deen was no paragon of health.

But while Deen is certainly a high-profile chef associated with the current obesity crisis, which afflicts 34 percent of Americans, she’s not the only one to blame. This year saw the release of a slew of cookbooks that revel in high-calorie, high-fat dishes. We’ve listed some of the main offenders, books that are keeping America’s greasy grip on the top spot in the developed world’s obesity rates.

There is another way! Be sure to stick around until the end of this caloric horror fest, where we’ll point you toward titles that celebrate delicious—and healthy—fare.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

The Ultimate Deep Fryer Recipe Collection

Onion rings, French fries, chicken wings, Twinkies, Coca-Cola—The Ultimate Deep Fryer Recipe Collection promises you can fry just about anything. The question is: Should we? As celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain said of Paula Deen’s recipes in 2011: “I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it’s OK to eat food that is killing us.” We will grant that deep-fried soda is highly symbolic of the fact that 35 percent of adults over the age of 20 are obese.

Photo: Amazon

Fifty Shades of Bacon

A cookbook that capitalizes on the best-selling Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy is, admittedly, pretty clever. Trouble is, mixing America’s bacon fetish with some light bondage jokes is at odds with our heart health. Fifty Shades Of Baconoffers up ways to inject bacon into everything you eat, from ice cream to alfredo. That might impress bacon-obsessed hipsters everywhere, but eating this food is totally at odds with fitting into your skinny jeans. Opt for fifty shades of kale instead.

Photo: Amazon

Southern Living 2012 Annual Recipes

The cover of Southern Living 2012 Annual Recipes features a generously frosted cake that’s three layers high. It’s a gorgeous cake—but it’s also a calorie bomb. A similar peppermint cake on Southern Living’s website calls for three packages of cream cheese—and that’s not counting what goes into the frosting.

It may be unfair to harp too harshly on the South’s decadent ways, since obesity is a nationwide problem, but suffice it to say: If you’re trying to keep your family slim, taking tips from Southern Living is no way to do it.

Photo: Amazon

Man Meets Stove: A Cookbook for Men Who’ve Never Cooked Anything Without a Microwave

We get it, we get it: Some men might need a little extra help in the kitchen, and stepping away from the microwave is a good place to start. It’s just not clear that cooking from Man Meets Stove would truly involve progress. The testosterone-fueled recipes reinforce the misconception that manly men don’t care about eating well. The book’s description brags: “The cookbook includes the following tutorials and recipes: - Oils and other lubricants - Bacon, the other spice - Jet Fuel for the Revolution - Drunk Broccoli - Eggscellent Eggs - Grilled Cheese Sandwich Three-Way - Roast Beast - Chicken and other Vegetables - Heart Attack Hollandaise - Spicy Bacon Candy.” Um, we’ll pass, thanks.

Photo: Amazon

Hungry Girl to the Max!: The Ultimate Guilt-Free Cookbook

Losing weight isn’t easy, and as Americans become increasingly obese, it’s even more important that we keep tabs on our weight. With that in mind, we give Hungry Girl props for trying to help people lose weight without yo-yo dieting. There’s just one small hitch: Her latest book, The Ultimate Guilt-Free Cookbook,is full of prepackaged and processed items. The problem with this approach to “guilt-free” eating is that dieters end up making trade-offs; sure, you might shed a few pounds, but you’re also putting other unhealthy ingredients into your body. Instead of stocking up on the fat-free, sugar-free, and low-calorie options Hungry Girl says are must-haves, dieters would do better to seek out whole grains, fruits, veggies, and legumes, and learn lifelong healthy cooking habits.

Photo: Amazon

The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Typically, a celebrity endorsement is a helpful thing. The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook might be the exception to that rule. Paula Deen praising the book as a source of “decadent” (read: fattening) treats should serve as a warning. As one reviewer put it, “It’s as if the main goal was to put in as [many] unhealthy ingredients as possible.”

Photo: Amazon

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier

Author Ree Drummond promises your family will beg for seconds if you cook from her book—but that might not be such a great thing. As one Amazon reviewer wrote about The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier, “Make sure you have your kitchen well stocked with lots of eggs, sugar, fats, and red meat.” The reviewer allows that “the Drummond family can get away with it since they're working on a farm for 12 hours a day. But if the average American eats this stuff every day they will have a heart attack before they make it to the desserts section.”

Photo: Amazon

Healthy Options Abound

If you’re feeling full just reading this gallery, don’t despair. This year also saw the release of a ton of healthy cookbooks. Seasonal foods, plant-based recipes, and fresh ingredients are in style too—a sign that, despite a few wayward chefs clinging to their deep-fat fryers and sticks of butter, we stand a chance of coping with the obesity crisis. The Washington Post’s list of the top cookbooks of 2012 features a number of titles that balance good taste with good health, like Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Jerusalem: A Cookbook.

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